Sniffling, I opened my mouth, but speaking human words while in animal form was no easy task. For one thing, my mouth was structured completely differently from a human’s.
Still, after putting every ounce of effort a marten could muster into it, I managed to form something resembling a sentence.
“Take me with you, take me with you!”
After muttering that several times, I eventually plopped down onto the floor.
No matter who I ended up meeting, I had to scream as loudly as I could and survive. I had to get out of here somehow.
“I, firs’ time speakin’ human. Please, be nice to me (I’m speaking human words for the first time. Please be kind to me).”
But that was when it happened.
Creeeak.
As if it had actually heard my words, the entire bookshelf across from me rotated, and a secret passage suddenly appeared.
A suspicious-looking secret passage that anyone could tell was shady—especially one that a spy should absolutely never have witnessed.
‘……Huh?’
And then, a moment later. From inside emerged a devastatingly decadent handsome man who was enough to make my breath catch.
Jet-black hair. Dark teal eyes, with more deep green mixed in than sky blue. Long, sleek eyes and a nose sharp enough to cut.
And…… from the moment he took a single step, the overwhelming dominant pheromones of a superior Alpha spread through the air.
Whatever he had been doing, his suit was disheveled, and he was so ridiculously sexy that it looked as though he had a sign plastered across him saying, ‘I am the villain of this novel.’ Sexy enough to make even a child stop crying on the spot.
‘H-he’s from the Sabertooth Tiger Tribe!’
The combination of black hair and dark teal eyes was characteristic of the Sabertooth Tiger Tribe. In other words, he was one of the people who owned this mansion.
“My.”
The handsome man noticed me frozen stiff, too shocked to even bow down, and his eyes curved into a smile.
“How troublesome. I didn’t expect anyone to be here.”
Wow, he’s incredible. That deep, cavernous voice.
That insane presence, as though a black aura were radiating from behind him!
……I was almost bewitched by it, but the moment he reached out his hand, I snapped back to my senses and screamed.
“I-I’m an innocent young girl! P-please don’t kill me!”
Honestly, wasn’t it a little unfair for him to come out here on his own and then blame me for learning his secret?! Besides, technically, I had been here for several days before he even showed up!
He hadn’t even blamed me for anything yet, but I was already nervously protesting like that.
Of course, only in my head, because I was terrified.
I’m a marten who knows the value of her life.
“Hah.”
As I stared at him, trembling with every muscle tensed, the handsome man let out a short laugh, apparently finding something amusing. It was a strange laugh, as though he were both relieved and entertained.
‘Why is he making that face at someone he’s seeing for the first time?’
But before I could examine the handsome man any further, he swept his hair back and asked in a low voice.
“Didn’t you just ask me to save you?”
His heavy voice pressed against my ears like a rock. I rolled my eyes around before answering for now.
“I-I did, but……!”
The handsome man calmly closed the secret passage door again, then took another step toward me.
It was as if his face said, ‘Should I chop you up or not?’ I cautiously backed away two steps, but that didn’t matter when I was still inside the cage.
‘W-what do I do?’
Am I going to the marten afterlife like this?
‘Sh-should I try being cute?’
For now, I was convinced that he was the villain of this novel. Because if there were two villains who looked like that, the protagonists of the novel wouldn’t even get a chance to stretch before the story ended. They’d probably get chopped up while yawning!
Desperately turning over every thought in my tiny head, I calmly brought my short front paws up and covered my eyes.
This was the best I could do.
“Da marten didn’t see anythin’. I don’t remember.”
But the handsome man chuckled and tilted his head slightly.
“Judging by how you stared blankly at me for several seconds, your eyesight seems perfectly fine.”
“……!”
Wow, he’s annoying, but I have absolutely nothing to say back!
And so, my ‘pretend not to know anything’ strategy had failed.
What now?! How am I supposed to survive?
‘Think. Think. I may be nothing but a marten, but there has to be a way to survive.’
But before I could finish thinking, the villain bent down on one knee and brought himself to my eye level.
His voice was surprisingly sweet for a villain, but his eyes were those of a predator. The icy pupils glowing an intense blue were so frightening that my mind went completely blank.
“But why is a baby in a place like this?”
“!”
“You poor thing…… It seems you were hired as a chimney sweep. I clearly ordered them not to employ children, yet something like this has been happening. Is that right?”
Don’t be scared. It’s me!
Just answer yes.
Tell him I didn’t want to be here, that the maids found me inconvenient and only let me out when it was time to clean the chimneys!
And…… and they didn’t give me food. Or blankets. Or even light a fire for me…….
“Khng.”
Tears welled up. But I couldn’t get a single word out. This wasn’t a matter of courage anymore. The pheromones he was emitting as an Alpha were instinctively pressing me down.
‘Ugh. I think I’m going to throw up.’
The pheromones of a high-ranking predator were flooding the cramped storage room. Martens were predators too, but compared to a Sabertooth Tiger’s claws, we were still a low-ranking species. Faced with such overwhelmingly dominant pheromones, I couldn’t move a muscle.
“My. I dislike weak things that can’t answer my questions. Are you frightened?”
Hic!
At his words, spoken as though he were troubled, I began to hiccup.
Answer. I have to answer. Maybe he won’t discover that I’m a spy.
All I had to do was nod and say yes…….
“I’m a spy…….”
……Hic!
‘I’m screwed!!!’
Are you insane?! Damn this mouth that only speaks the truth!
So startled that I nearly fainted, I clutched my tail and trembled violently. Naturally, I didn’t even have the courage to check his expression.
‘I’m going to die. I’m definitely going to die…… Ack!’
Hic!
I squeezed my eyes shut and stumbled backward, only to hiccup so violently that my entire tiny body shook. Because of that, I missed my footing and flopped straight onto my back.
Now lying in a position that practically looked like I was offering him my belly to slice open, I gave up on everything and decided to simply pray that I would die without feeling too much pain.
‘A mouth that spills the truth even when someone practically feeds it all the reasons not to.’
This was all because I had lived an honest and upright life my entire life. Sob.
‘Please, in my next life, let me be born as a beastkin at the very top of the food chain……!’
Let me live recklessly while throwing around dominant pheromones like that!
“A spy…….”
He drew out the words lazily.
But…… Why wasn’t he killing me right away?
“Hic!”
Gasp!
I cautiously opened one eye for no reason, only to hiccup even harder.
I quickly brought my front paws up and covered my mouth.
“Hic, hic, hic!”
It was completely useless, though, to the point that I wanted to cry.
“What should I do with this? A meatball-sized creature being a spy. The Holy Empire must be nearing the end of its lifespan.”
Was he threatening to eat me in one bite?
‘I know! I know I’m bite-sized!’
With a simple flick of his finger, he knocked away the top of my cage and reached in to grab me by the scruff of my neck, lifting me into the air.
Now that it was time to die and I had lost all fear, I glared at him with everything I had and threw a jab with my chubby front paw.
This marten is going to land at least one hit before she dies!
“Are you displaying stereotypic behavior because you’ve been confined? Self-harm isn’t good for you.”
What are you talking about? I was trying to punch you!
But it seemed my words had gone completely unheard. The decadent handsome man, having reined in his pheromones, lightly clicked his tongue and greeted me.
“What is your name?”
“I-I don’t have one…….”
That was right. The wicked Holy Empire wasn’t kind enough to give names to spies sent in as young maids.
At most, they probably assigned numbers like No. 17 or No. 20.
“If you have no name, then you must have no guardian either.”
Perhaps he was quite pleased with my answer, because the handsome man murmured quietly. In the meantime, I caught a glimpse of madness lurking in his teal pupils and instinctively flinched.
‘I know who that man is.’
At first, I had been too frightened to remember who he was right away, but now that I had calmed down a little, my heart was screaming the answer.
That low voice, the gentle way he spoke, those teal pupils that seemed just a little unhinged. There was only one person all of it could point to.
“The black magicuser, Kiraxus……!”
Eek! Of all people, I got caught by the number one person to avoid in this novel! How far does my possession bad luck go?!
“Oh? You know who I am? Then this will be quick.”
But there was nowhere for me to run, and Kiraxus immediately stuffed me inside his jacket. In other words, he put me inside the loosely worn vest over his half-open shirt.
“Albinos are rare. I don’t dislike rare things. And since you even honestly revealed that you’re a spy with your own mouth, perhaps I’ll let that matter slide.”
“R-really……?”
Really? You actually have that much generosity in you? That can’t be.
Unable to believe it, I stared up at him with my eyes wide, and Kiraxus chuckled again. But his eyes weren’t smiling at all. Not even a little.
“But that would be too easy a forgiveness, so there should be a condition.”
He suddenly stopped walking and looked down at me, his eyes curving.
“Oh, right. I happened to be in need of a daughter-in-law…… If you become my daughter-in-law, I might just let you live?”
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